Newsletter #78 | WWE NIL Tryout, Clemson's Reign. Program, Hoosiers for Good + ICYMI Ticker
Welcome to the NIL Newsletter by Optimum Sports Consulting - providing valuable, actionable NIL resources for athletes, administrators, agencies and other sport professionals.
Recapping NIL This Week:
Deep dive into the WWE NIL tryout weekend
Paul Levesque (Triple H), who just recently announced his retirement from the sport after a cardiac event last year, helped oversee the WWE’s three-day tryout at the Dallas Cowboys practice facility- nearly all 50 participants were current or former college athletes. “It’s like dipping your toe in the fountain of youth,” Levesque told The Athletic.
Levesque has been in charge of WWE’s developmental system for more than a decade and helped created “NXT,” essentially WWE’s minor league organization. Over the past year, WWE has pivoted away from signing mostly established U.S. pro wrestlers for NXT and leaned into a youth movement with college athletes. The company signed 16 active college athletes to NIL deals last fall, with another group set for June.
The tryout was a way to get a hands-on evaluation of more potential wrestlers, the first of its kind with a focus exclusively on college athletes. Of the 50+, 15 were later offered an opportunity to sign with the company and six more were offered an extended tryout in Florida.
Duquesne OL Roman Macek, a two-time all-conference player who will opt out of his final year of college football and depart law school to join WWE. “I’ve been in love with the WWE since I was a little kid,” Macek said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Let’s go do this.”
“You change the direction of their intensity and their focus, that becomes this massive ocean of talent for us, not a tiny pond,” Levesque said. “In the beginning, it was a puddle. Now it opens up massively, and we’re getting there.”
In 2013, WWE opened its Performance Center in Orlando, a training facility for current, future and potential WWE wrestlers. When an NFL Players Association official told Levesque he would have tried wrestling after his football career had this path been available, Levesque knew this was the right move. Last summer, the company jumped into college athletics. The developmental system has around 90 wrestlers, and WWE wants to get north of 120.
The full story from The Athletic can be found HERE.
Clemson announces its ‘Reign.’ NIL program
Clemson Athletics and Director of Athletics Graham Neff announced the next generation of the Tigers’ NIL programming dubbed “Reign.” Clemson’s multifaceted program is “aggressive, comprehensive, education-focused and suited to the ever-changing landscape.”
“We’ve talked for a while about our intent to become more aggressive in the NIL environment, and I feel that Reign. personifies that notion,” said Neff. “While many of these services have been available to our student athletes since last year, our department has worked tirelessly to evolve our NIL philosophy. It’s critical that our SAs have the education and tools to succeed in this area, and that our coaches have a direct way to address the questions they receive on the recruiting trail. NIL is ever-changing, and we will continue to monitor, adapt and innovate.”
Clemson will be the first athletics program in the nation to construct a space dedicated to the development of NIL activity – The Clemson Athletics Branding institute. The institute will provide an environment to educate students, incubate ideas, and serve as a launchpad for student-athlete opportunities. The CAB will feature a photo studio, video studios, audio suite, office space and a media training area in more than 12,000 square feet. The building, presently under construction, is located adjacent to the Poe Indoor Football Complex.
“Personalized jerseys, co-branded apparel, video games, NFTs, trading cards, podcasts, photos, videos, and other exciting opportunities are on the horizon for our student athletes.”
“Our program starts with our in-house creative agency, College Avenue Creative. We’re leaning on more than 10 years of experience as a nationally-recognized social media and branding powerhouse. Clemson has additional vital partnerships in several areas to accelerate quickly for all student athletes. The world-renowned Spiro Institute within The Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, national-leader Altius Sports Partners in education and policy, and CLC, Fanatics and OneTeam in the licensing space. Clemson has also been engaged with Opendorse since 2016 as a platform for students to build their brand.”
‘Hoosiers for Good’ NIL collective signs 14 student athletes
Last month, Hoosiers For Good was announced as a new NIL collective to support Indiana student athletes and local charities.
This week, the collective officially signed its first class of 14 community-minded Indiana University student athletes who will use their platform and influence to raise awareness for eight Indiana charity partners: Riley Children’s Foundation, Indiana Wish, Indiana Region of the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, Turnstone, Stop the Violence Indianapolis, Boys & Girls Clubs of Bloomington and RecycleForce.
The diverse inaugural class represents the IU men’s and women’s basketball, football, women’s volleyball, softball, women’s swimming and diving, and women’s soccer programs. Each athlete is partnered with a local charity to help raise awareness for its mission through in-person appearances and social media.
$470,000 funded by donations from supporters will go directly to athletes in exchange for in-person appearances and social media posts promoting these appearances and their partner charity. The significant amount of compensation is on par with Texas’s “Horns With Heart” collective, which will be paying $50,000 per year to offensive lineman in exchange for charitable promotions.
Full story from the Business of College Sports HERE.
ICYMI Ticker
University of Kentucky QB Will Levis has signed an NIL deal has signed a deal with thoroughbred horse War of Will, the winner of the 2019 Preakness Stakes. Full statement from Paris, KY Clairborne Farm HERE.
Three Clemson University football teammates of the early 1980s - Rich Davies, Kendall Alley and Kevin Gemas - have launched TigerImpact, a “purpose-driven” NIL collective. The group says it is launching with commitments totaling more than $5 million and 12 Clemson athletes working on behalf of community charities that align with the athletes’ personal passions. Full story from BCS HERE.
West Virginia AD Shane Lyons: “We have a strong fan base, we have the Country Roads Trust that’s been set up, we have possibilities for our student athletes. All in all I don’t really see us at a competitive disadvantage when you talk about corporations. What I’m seeing right now nationally – there may be few national deals, but most of it’s all local. I don’t see Fortune 500 companies coming after prospective SAs as we sit here today, though the landscape is always changing.”
Wake Forest now has the Top Hat Collective - “Top Hat provides opportunities for our athletes to connect with our members through a variety of methods, including in-person and virtual events, autographs, apparel, NFTs, social media engagement, and more.”
Alabama State University athletics announced the launch of Icon Suite, an innovative NIL tool from Icon Source, the leading digital marketplace connecting brands and athletes for endorsements and partnerships, for all Hornet student athletes and community members.
Louisiana athletics has officially launched ULtra, a new NIL education program designed to position the department's more than 400 student athletes for success in the NIL space both locally and nationally, With the help of local agency brandRusso.
Wisconsin athletics has partnered with NIL advisory and education firm Altius Sports Partners to advance the Badgers' YouDub program.
Substack Issue Update
Due to a system update, many Substack newsletters (including OSC’s) unintentionally sent out multiple emails this weekend. We apologize for the inconvenience- below is the full statement from Substack HQ on the matter.
Here is the internal message sent out to users as well: “We have found and fixed two separate technical issues, one on April 8 and another on April 9, that resulted in some posts being sent twice to subscribers. We truly apologize for any frustration this situation has caused. We will be conducting an extensive investigation over the coming week to make sure that this does not happen again. Thanks for understanding and again, we are sorry.”